Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 4 March 2025 to Question 33161 on Fire and Rescue Services: Finance, what factors the funding formula uses to (a) determine and (b) distribute funding to fire and rescue services.

The majority of funding in the Local Government Finance Settlement, including funding for Fire and Rescue Authorities, is distributed through the Settlement Funding Assessment. This funding includes Revenue Support Grant and retained business rates.

The Settlement Funding Assessment uses a range of formulas to determine the relative funding need of areas, which when combined with a measure of tax base, determines their relative income. This includes the Fire and Rescue Formula, which consists of a basic allocation of funding per resident, with adjustments for coastline, population density and sparsity, deprivation, fire risk areas and community fire safety.

Further details on the current funding methodology can be found online, within the ‘Calculation of 2013/14 Formula Funding’ page, linked here.

The government is committed to introducing an improved and updated approach to funding local authorities, including Fire and Rescue Authorities, from 2026-27. We sought views on our principles and objectives for funding reform through a consultation which ran from 18 December 2024 - 12 February 2025.